Jeff Winton

League of Women Voters Hot Topics Event on “Recognizing and Improving the State of Mental Health in Rural America” with Jeff Winton, Rural Minds

The League of Women Voters of Chautauqua County will hold a Hot Topics meeting on Jan. 17 on Zoom. The meeting will open at 12:30 p.m. The presentation will begin at 1. Registration link for the meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83503069795?pwd=eE1MM0R0SWd0MFltWjc4TzhQbG4vUT09

Rural residents have less access to mental health resources than urban citizens. Rural counties see higher rates of depression that result in suicide rates that are 64-68% higher than in urban areas. Stress factors unique to rural life include a weakening agricultural economy, financial instability, and a solitary lifestyle.

Jeff Winton is founder and chairman of Rural Minds, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with the mission to serve as the informed voice for mental health in rural America, and to provide mental health information and resources.

When his nephew, Brooks Winton, died by suicide in 2012, Jeff’s late mother, Elaine, who helped raise Brooks, courageously ignored the guidance of some local community members and urged Jeff to speak at the funeral about Brooks’s struggle. An outpouring of support from other farm families about their own struggles around mental health convinced him to devote a significant portion of his energies to connecting rural Americans to much-needed mental health services.

In addition to being the founder and chairman of Rural Minds, he is a member of a multigenerational farm family and the founder and owner of Wall Street Dairy LLC, a working family dairy farm in Chautauqua County.

Winton is also chief executive officer of Jeff Winton Associates, a full-service communications and corporate affairs agency he co-founded in 2020. He has deep experience — on both professional and personal levels — with efforts to educate about depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, substance use disorder and other forms of mental illness.

He has worked four decades as a communications and corporate affairs leader with Fortune 100 corporations and respected public relations and advertising agencies. This global experience spans highly diverse and dynamic industries, including the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, animal health, agricultural, and consumer arenas.

Winton graduated with distinction from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, with a bachelor’s degree from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and completed graduate level courses at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He also served on the Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Dean’s Advisory Council and was named Outstanding Alumni 2020. Winton belongs to a number of agricultural organizations including the American Farm Bureau, Upstate Niagara Cooperative, Holstein Association USA, and many others.

This event is an excellent opportunity for members of the Chautauqua County community to learn about ways they can support mental healthcare in Chautauqua County.